Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez — elected this November and sworn into office last Tuesday — announced that his first official act would be joining with 38 of his colleagues in sponsoring the Paid Sick Time Act. Rodriguez said in a statement:
“As a lifelong community activist, I promised the people of my district that I would always put their needs first on the Council. That is why my first official act as a Council Member will be to sponsor the Paid Sick Time Act, which will give every worker in New York City the right to paid sick days no matter where they work.
This bill will change the lives of over a million New Yorkers who are now forced to choose between their jobs and their health, and it will make our entire city stronger. I can think of no better way to announce my commitment to fighting for progress and change every single day that I’m serving on the Council.”
Rodriguez is the first of the new City Council class to officially join the paid sick days effort, but he won’t be the last. 8 incoming Councilmembers (including Rodriguez) signed a letter to Speaker Christine Quinn earlier this month calling for “fast action” on the landmark legislation, which would allow every private sector worker in New York City to earn paid sick leave.
Elsewhere, Washington Post columnist Pevula Dvorak profiles parents who are forced to make an impossible choice between taking care of a sick child and the paycheck they need to get by:
The coughing starts in the middle of the night. And while you are watching your child’s poor little body in footed pajamas curl up with every hacking spasm, you are doing the calculations in your head, realizing that you are absolutely hosed if you miss work the next day
I’ve been there so many times. Practically every working parent I know has.
Whether it’s a dwindling stockpile of sick days, the risk of no pay, a crucial presentation, a testy boss or a volatile job market deep inside a recession, that bedside decision of whether to stay home with a sniffly kid or send him to school has a new sense of urgency this year.
In a world where hand sanitizers and masks are handed out at work and the president has declared H1N1 a national emergency, parents who cannot afford to miss a day of work and send their kids to school despite signs of illness are putting other children at risk.
